The need for freelancers with digital marketing skills is on the rise and the trend is likely to continue, according to the Global Online Employment Report from online staffing platform Elance.

Recently, there has been an increase in the desire from businesses to ensure that their digital skills cover all areas of the digital marketing mix.

The study found that 57% of freelancers saw an increase in their wages, and that earnings were increasing year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter in the first half of the year. IT and programming was the area where the highest demand in skills was reported, at 57%. However, sales, marketing, and content have seen the highest growth.

The top hiring countries are the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.

69% of freelancers say they are happier to work this way compared to full-time employment.

Enterprises should begin considering which core skills are internally required, which are required only for a particular project, as well as if an external source is needed, such as an agency.

As digital is evolving, the demand also changes, so companies need to understand how to deal with the trend. Hiring freelancers is usually a much shorter process, but because they are also individuals, it is necessary to approach them with the same care in the recruitment process as when hiring permanent staff.

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The rate of unemployment in the UK has fallen to 7.6%, with the number of unemployed people dropping by 8,000 to 2.47 million between July and September this year, according to a report from the Office for National Statistics. The rates recorded are the lowest in three years.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) also declined by 41,700 to 1.31 million last month.

Unemployment among young people also saw an improvement, with the number of unemployed between 16 and 24 years old falling by 9,000 to 965,000. What’s more, the percentage of those in employment in this age group rose 0.3 percentage points to 71.8% from April to June, and 0.6 percentage points over the same period in 2012.

There are currently 1.1 million more people in employment since the last election, which is a sign that Britain’s long-term employment plan is working, said prime minister David Cameron, reported by BBC news.

The number of employed people increased by 177,000 to 29.95 million, while the total pay grew by 0.7% in the first three months of financial 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, according to the Office for National Statistics. The average pay per week increased to £475 including bonuses.

In the third quarter, the economy rose 0.8%, and those figures can be taken as a sign that the economy continues to recover, said David Tinsley, economist at bank and financial services company BNP Paribas.

The Bank of England said that it will not raise interest rates from their low of 0.5% until the rate of unemployment declines to 7%, which could happen sooner than expected.

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A huge 73% of business people say that LinkedIn is the most trusted social media channel to communicate with business-to-business (B2B) brands, according to an infographic created by advertising giant WPP.

The study polled the agency’s LinkedIn audience of 500 members and found that business people are willing to communicate with brands they find relevant, said James Bailey, head of Maxus for Business, a B2B division of WPP’s media planning agency Maxus.

The research also found that of the available social networks, LinkedIn is not only the most trusted but is also the preferred social media channel, with 61% of participants in the poll saying so. Only a small percentage of people trusted B2B brands on Twitter and Facebook, with the figures standing at 12% and 5%, respectively. However, this might be explained with the fact that almost a quarter of people in the study said they have no or limited access to social networks at work.

Business people cited news articles as the most popular item they want to see from B2B brands on social media channels, at 44%, followed by how-to guides, standing at 20%. Around 8% of respondents said that video is the item they want to see in social networks, while the least popular was webinars at just 6%.

However, respondents said that the topic they want to be informed about are news about the company (86%), promotions (79%), insights (70%), product development (66%), inspiration (59%), and entertainment, as cited by 44% of respondents in the poll.

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The labour market outlook in the UK is increasingly optimistic in the short-term, even though there are differences between public and private sectors and across Britain, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The CIPD says that the outlook is brightest in the south-east and in the retail and manufacturing sectors. However, employment in the north of England is expected to decline, as well as that in the public sector, the report warns.

The CIPD polled 1,000 employers and found that most of them did not expect to experience a notable increase in recruitment in the medium-term, while one in five respondents said that they will increase their workforce by 2% if the economic growth is to return to a stable position of consistent growth of 2%. In addition, two out of five employers said that they will leave their worker levels the same.

The basic salary is set to increase by 1.6% in 2014, which is slightly lower than the third quarter’s prediction of 1.7%. The link between productivity, salary, and employment is the key to understanding labour market performance, said Gerwyn Davies, spokesman of CIPD.

With clear indications of further growth in demand for services and products, it is not surprising that employers have intentions to hire even more people in the short-term, he added. The CIPD’s data on intentions for medium-term recruitment shows that stronger economic growth over the next few years will not be followed by big employment increases and above all prudence is recommended.